A letter to my son on his first birthday

My beautiful baby boy,

Exactly one year ago today your daddy and I got to meet the perfect little baby who had been nestled all snuggly in my womb for the previous nine months. It’s unbelievable to think that a full year has gone by and our little baby is becoming a little boy.

I have to wonder how you even know what your name is at this point but you turn around when someone says it (at least when you feel like it). Daddy and I have lots of nicknames for you – Bootie Butt, Bootie, Poop, BP, Munchkin, Stinkbutt, Soo Soo (I don’t know where I got this one from), Peanut, Luvalump, Bubba, Monkey, and a few thousand others. It took us basically the full nine months of pregnancy to pick your name, so you would think we might actually use it more often.

You have a great temperament, getting involved in the action when you’re good and ready. Until then, you usually just sit back and soak everything in. You’ve got your mom’s serious expression, which Daddy likes to call our “science face.” You’re a charmer, with really expressive eyes, and you know when to pile the cute on. Big-time. You get excited about things easily, which makes us laugh. When you get really excited about something, you flap your arms up and down and move your feet about 100 miles an hour.

You are a seriously picky eater, Brendan. I’m having visions of you at 30 years old, blending all of your food down to purees while your significant other gives me the ole stink eye because I didn’t nip this problem in the bud when you were a bambino. Daddy is in charge of feeding you dinner every night and he is SUPER patient with you. He’s got a whole repertoire of antics reserved just for dinnertime. You do like sliced banana though, and of course Cheerios and Puffs. Which you sometimes prefer to use as weapons rather than food. I’m trying to be optimistic and think that this pickiness will pass and you’ll come to love food just as much as your mama.

And the love you have for your mama, oh my goodness! I wish I could bottle it and save it for down the road when you’re a teenager and you think I’m embarrassing and just want me to go away. Remember, moms have feelings too so take it easy on me kiddo. In return, I’ll try not to embarrass you. Too much. Not that you don’t love your daddy too. You definitely do, lots. But you’re a mama’s boy and I eat it up.

You’re a pretty good sleeper. In general, you sleep like a log much like your father. Somehow you fail to hear the loud snoring (that would be your dad) and my flipping and flopping about all night. Sadly, I’m not a sound sleeper. I still get up frequently throughout the night to make sure you and Daddy are still breathing (when he’s not snoring) and that you didn’t figure out how to fling yourself over the side of the crib since the last time I checked. Your preferred sleeping position is on your belly, with your adorable rump sticking up in the air.

You’re a morning person, like me. Only you’re much more chipper than any human being has the right to be at the ripe old hour of 6 o’clock. (Which is a lot more reasonable than the previous wake-up time of 4:30 when you first started sleeping through the night.) You usually wake up and start chatting away to yourself about some nonsense that no one but you can understand. I’ll stealthily open one eye to check on you and see you sitting up with your head smushed between the crib slats just dying for one of us to wake up and play with you. It makes me giggle every time.

Brendan, my angel, your father and I love you to bits and pieces and can’t imagine anyone more special or perfect to be our precious son. We have witnessed so many fun firsts over the last year and look forward to all the firsts yet to come. We are so proud to be your parents.

Love,
Mama


Just for fun, here's a vintage pic of B from the day he was born:



Brendan is ONE YEAR OLD today!

Goodbye to babyhood, hello to toddlerhood (OMG)

Today Mommy is home with Brendan. He was up every 30 minutes hysterically crying so none of us got any sleep. Nanny Darlene and I took him to the pediatrician this morning and it turns out he's got yet another ear infection and she wants us to do nebulizer treatments with him again three times a day to clear up all the gunk in his chest. Poor little guy.

Brendan's birthday party was yesterday and even though he wasn't feeling his best, he had a great time. Unlike his mom and dad, Brendan seems to really enjoy being the center of attention. We had the party at the clubhouse where Nanny Darlene lives and had family and a few close friends join us. He wasn't terribly interested in eating his birthday cupcake (surprise, surprise) but he was immensely interested in touching the flames on the candles.

Brendan has been crawling around like crazy, pulling himself up on any and every piece of furniture in the house and cruising like a pro. He's getting braver and braver with the cruising so we're pretty sure he's going to be walking any minute now. His head must be made of lead because he hits it about ten thousand times a day but he's still managed to escape any sort of brain damage. The first three hundred times it happened my heart skipped a beat. But now we just say yay and clap. And don't you know, he face planted into the TV not ten minutes ago, sat up and started clapping for himself. Oh, and I taught him to do a high 5. :)

Tomorrow is the big day, when my little baby turns one year old. I can't even explain the sort of mixed emotions I have about this milestone. I had to stop singing happy birthday at his party because I was choking back tears. I'm about three thousand times more emotional since I had Brendan than I was before, and that's saying something because I've ALWAYS been super emotional. I have this incredible excitement at seeing all the new things Brendan is going to be doing and saying. But I'm going to be sad to say goodbye to "baby" Brendan. On the plus side, we're starting to wean him from formula so at least I can excited at saving a little but of money. (Although the amount of money we're going to spend on band-aids over the next few years probably negates that savings!)

Here are some pictures from his party:

B with Mommy and Daddy


B with Grandma and Nanny


B trying to touch the fire


B with his pretty cousins Emily & Julia



Brendan is one day away from being ONE YEAR OLD today!

New Milestones!

Last Friday, at five days past the 11-month mark, Sir decided it was finally time to figure out this whole crawling thing. I guess he got tired of public transportation (i.e., mom and dad carrying him everywhere) and took matters into his own hands (and feet). He's not crawling all over the place or anything just yet. He's kind of lazy like that. He'll only exert that kind of effort for something REALLY important. Like Daddy's cell phone. Exhibit A:



And we didn't stop at just one new trick! On Monday, Sir and I went to watch Daddy play softball. Sir decided to show his appreciation for the game by clapping his meaty hands. We were sitting there... (Well, that's not really true. More like, I was sitting while he climbed all over me, bit me, wiped his excessively snotty nose on me, etc.) Anyway, I was sitting there cheering on the team when all of a sudden the little loudmouth started yelling and clapping. And he's been a clapping fool ever since.

For instance, the other night he was having a hard time falling asleep and one of the times I went into the bedroom to calm him down, Sir was crying. And clapping. AT THE SAME TIME.

He's been doing it a lot at daycare too. Today's note read: "Brendan played and crawled and clapped his hands all morning." There's really no rhyme or reason for it at the moment. Just claps when the mood strikes. Of course, when I try to get it on video he acts like I'm terrorizing him. Exhibit B:




Brendan is 11 months and 10 days old today!

Pipe Down!

LOUD. This is the only word necessary to describe Brendan at the moment. OH. MY. GOD. I don't know if this is something he picked up at daycare, maybe the other kids yell too? Or maybe he just thinks we're all deaf like his daddy? Best is when he pulls himself in close to hug me (or so I think) and then proceeds to YELL AT THE TOP OF HIS LITTLE LUNGS INTO MY EAR. Then stick his finger in there and pull my hair for good measure. Ouch.

Brendan is now in full-on "I need to be moving every second of the day" mode. He's pulling himself up on furniture and wreaking general havoc. Anything that's not on the floor must end up there. This is Sir's new rule. Oh look, a pile of papers. Pick up. Throw on floor. Repeat with every other object on the table, couch, etc.

It's the final countdown to the big O-N-E. And I'm still not happy about it. But I guess there ain't a whole lot I can do about it! We're celebrating with friends and family on the 28th. Hopefully he'll have a good nap beforehand so as to avoid the whole cranky, everything makes me pissy, sort of behavior.

Sir is still not into the idea of table food. I'm pretty sure we're going to be sending him off to kindergarten with a lunch bag full of pureed fruits and veggies. We've tried cheese, meatballs, pasta, macaroni & cheese, turkey, mashed potatoes, chicken, bread, even a cupcake! Yuck, yuck and more yuck to all of them. As soon as the food is in his mouth, his little face gets all contorted and he starts his whole gagging routine until he either swallows it or, more often than not, throws up. Awesomeness all around. He digs Cheerios and puffs though. I think he'd eat those all day if we let him.

Anywho, here are some recent pictures for your enjoyment.

With Aunt Lauren


Snoozin on G'pa Charlie


The infamous cupcake (what kid doesn't like cupcakes???)


Too cute!


And I said, you've got to wait out the market. You can't just sell, sell, sell...


These are mobile pics so the resolution stinks but you get the idea.
Before:


After:



Brendan is 11 months and 4 days old today!